ABC casting for The Next Best Thing, its renamed celebrity impersonator reality series

Previously called The Impostor, the series is now called awkwardly called The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?. Renaming the show sounds like part of ABC’s 10-step “squeeze all life out of good reality show concepts before they make it to air” strategy, which last summer led the network to air and then immediately cancel a bunch of crap shows.

Anyway, the show will award $100,000 to the best among contestants “who look, sound and act like a celebrity”; viewers will vote for the winner. The show will be hosted by Michele Merkin and judged by Lisa Ann Walters and two others.

The show casts March 5 and 6 in Los Angeles, March 11 and 12 in Las Vegas, March 20 and 21 in New York, and March 28 to 29 in Orlando. More details are in an ABC press release and, allegedly, on nextbestthingshow.com and abc.com, although the latter two currently have no casting information whatsoever. That’s part two of ABC’s strategy: Withhold casting information from our crappy web site to ensure that only the most obsessive freaks audition.

about Andy Dehnart

Andy Dehnart is a journalist who has covered reality television for more than 15 years and created reality blurred in 2000. A member of the Television Critics Association, his writing and criticism about television, culture, and media has appeared on NPR and in Playboy, Vulture, and many other publications. Andy, 39, also directs the journalism program at Stetson University in Florida, where he teaches creative nonfiction and journalism. He has an M.F.A. in nonfiction writing and literature from Bennington College. More about reality blurred and Andy.

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reality blurred is your guide to the world of reality television and unscripted entertainment, with reality show reviews, news, and analysis. It's edited by Andy Dehnart.

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